In the coming weeks, 1,500 backpacks will be filled in order to help homeless and disadvantaged teens get ready for the fall school year. The drive is being sponsored by Teens with Promise, a local non-profit dedicated to providing disadvantaged teens with the supplies they need to start and stay in school. The organization is conducting donation drives at multiple police facility locations across the community in cooperation with the Colorado Springs Police Department until August 31, 2013. These locations include:

Ongoing Drop Off Locations:

Gold Hills Division, 955 West Moreno Ave

Falcon Division, 7850 Goddard Street

Stetson Hills Division, 4110 Tutt Blvd.

Sand Creek Division, 4125 Center Park

Police Operations Center, 705 S. Nevada Ave

School supplies needed include backpacks appropriate for high school teens, scientific calculators, 1" binders, red/black pens, notebooks, and college ruled paper.

Teens with Promise grew out of Robin Coen’s creation of a similar organization in Florida to help disadvantaged teens. Having moved to Colorado Springs in 2004, Coen started a local organization in her basement and has recently moved to donated space near Austin Bluffs Parkway. Adolescents are referred by high school counselors, probation officers, homeless shelters or other nonprofit groups. Along with supplying their back to school supplies, Teens with Promise also provides school clothing, prom dresses for rent, athletic equipment, medical resources, tutors and other pro bono services.

“Our main goal is to help them fit in at school and feel good about themselves, and a lot of times teens aren’t going to admit they can’t afford something,” Coen said.

For more info about the project, please contact Robin Coen, Executive Director of Teens with Promise at 719.266.0106, or visit the web site at www.TeensWithPromise.com